What is “Stagecraft”
Stagecraft or “Technical Theatre” is the prep work and behind the scenes work that makes a production of a play, show, concert or musical possible. Technical Theatre includes duties such as designing of posters, billboards, t-shirts, tickets or other advertisements, props, costumes, set design, lighting and sound design, painting the stage pieces, building set pieces and in our case at Charles Best, building the stage and amphitheater. Being a Stage Manager at a High School means being second in command. The teacher or director is first in command; however, all projects, designs and ideas go through stage management before they are pitched to the director to maximize productivity.
This being my second year as a Stage Manager, my action this year will be to oversee and supervise all activity that takes part in school productions, assemblies, talent shows, concerts and pep rallies, as well as recording my learnings and findings to pass on my knowledge to new generations of theatre technicians.
I started my action the first week of school, jumping right back into stagecraft meetings. Auditions and rehearsals came next and are still running. The continuation of my action will include being present for stagecraft meetings, rehearsals and information meetings. Other tasks along the way will include band performances, school assemblies, pep rallies, talent shows, productions and MetFest, the fall metropolitan theatre festival, which brings together schools in the district to perform their One Act Fall Plays to an audience of enthusiastic young actors, as well as receive feedback from an adjudicator with personal experience in the industry. The reflective portion of my action will be to reflect upon and write a “guidebook” for future Stage Managers and or other Crew personnel.
Complexities
As with any action, there are complexities to face. The biggest challenge I will have to face is improving. I found myself falling into a familiar role and taking on the same exact projects as my last year as a Stage Manager, and I will not grow and learn unless I make new opportunities for myself. Other complexities I will face include the new recruits that joined this year. Our outreach was much larger this year as we had a proper stand on our club day, and we now have an Instagram account to advertise events, opportunities and past successes. The number of new recruits for Stagecraft is large. We have a crew of 52 people, which is much larger than any previous year. The interest in the Drama Programs and extracurriculars has also decreased, if the interest continues to dwindle, it will cause problems for future student generations interested in Technical Theatre. Theatre and performance are a balance. Without actors, there is no show on the stage, and without the crew, there is no stage at all.
Sustainability
Performances such as concerts, shows and productions cause waste. There isn’t a whole lot that can be done about the disposables necessary to put on such productions. At Charles Best, we try to minimize the impact we make on landfills and the land around us. All our lumber, materials, props, costumes and set pieces are saved and reused until they are no longer up to the safety and artistic standards, we hold for ourselves. The reusing and recycling of old props, set pieces and costumes minimizes the waste at the end of a show run. our recycling bin, old scripts, plans and other paper from the drama classes, are used for paper mâché projects. We also source the majority of our costumes, props and furniture from donations or thrift stores, and our paints are from shops that make mistakes while mixing colours.
I do my best to make the decisions that keep in mind the garbage that will be produced over the course of the projects, however there is a baseline amount of waste that will be produced.
Opportunity
Stagecraft provides opportunities to creatives and tech interested students to be a part of something known, appreciated and respected in the district. British Columbia has a large film industry, and the skills learnt in the Technical Theatre class and club directly translate to the industry standards in lighting and sound technicians, as well as working on deadlines and teamwork. Stagecraft also provides opportunities for communities to get together, the crew and cast to form a community, audiences to enjoy entertainment together, schools to form school spirit at school assemblies and bands to form and perform in front of audiences.
Expert Collaboration
The expert I am working in collaboration with for this action is Mr. Case, the drama teacher at Charles Best Secondary. With experience in the industry and almost 25 years of experience teaching drama and technical theatre courses, he has learnt a lot about how productions run. I am in communication with him about anything and everything regarding rehearsals, stagecraft, projects and so forth. In the future, when we move on to the spring musical, I will be in communication and collaboration with Mr. Hughes as well, the music teacher at Charles Best Secondary. I am also working in collaboration with other important students in the Technical Theatre Program such as my Assistant Stage Manager, Art Department Manager, Head of Props, Heads of the Costume Department, Head Lighting Technician and Head Sound Technician to bring our ideas and visions to reality. All the student leaders who have titles have proven themselves in their department as someone who can be trusted to manage individual projects and oversee the completion of their projects by the deadlines set.
I am looking forward to seeing how my action plays out this year, and hope that this provided some clarification or information about what exactly my action is.
Melea Chew Roberts
